A Web Page Dedicated to The Gangster Of Old, Along With His Modern Day Thugs And Bandits

        If we are to understand Islam and why so many Muslims are violent we need to understand who Muhammad was and what he did and why he did it. That is the purpose of this web page.

    Long before the birth of Muhammad in 570 AD Jewish tribes lived in villages in the Hejaz which is south of Israel and now part of Saudi Arabia.  These villages included Ailah, Maqna, Tabuk, Taima, Wadi al Qura, Fadak and Khaiber and Yathrib.  It is not clear how long Jews lived there, one report states that Jews settled there in 1200 BC when they went to fight Amalek, and that a second Jewish immigration took, place in 587 BC. when Nebuchadnezzer, the king of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem.  A third immigration to the Hejaz occurred in 70 AD when Jews fled the Romans who were massacring them in Israel.

 

    When Muhammad grew up in Mecca the Quraysh tribe of which he was a member believed in the moon God, Al-illah and his three daughters, al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat and many other deities.   The Ka’ba the holy place for the non-Jewish Arabs was in Mecca and was the house of Al-illah. 

    When Muhammad was 25 years old he married a wealthy 40 year old woman and started to preach to his fellow tribesmen that there was only one God, Allah and that he was Allah’s messenger.

  For those who believe in one God, the fact that Muhammad preached that there is only one God may seem to give him an aura of respectability.  It’s important to note that if you were a charlatan who wanted power there were advantages to preaching that there was one God as opposed to many.  You were much more important if you were the messenger of the one all powerful God then if you were the messenger of one of many Gods.

     In order to win the members of his tribe over Muhammad conceded that the daughters of the moon God,  al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat were divine beings as well but that they were subordinate to Allah.  Despite this concession he failed to win over most of the Meccans who made great fun of the pretensions of this once ragged lad who owed his fortune to a decrepit widow and who threatened non-believers with painful torment in hell.  As a result he withdrew that concession and Muslims today believe that the only reason he made those concessions was that he was tempted by Satan.  Muhammad also made concessions to the Jews who at that time had communities in Mecca and Medina.  He ordered his followers to turn in the direction of Jerusalem during prayer and to adopt the Jewish day of Atonement as a Muslim holy day. He told the Jews that Allah was the same God as their God. 

 He had a letter sent to the Jews of Khaybar which stated:

I adjure you by God, and by what He has sent down to you, by the manna and quails He gave as food to your tribes before you, and by His drying up the sea for your fathers and when He delivered them from Pharaoh and his works, that you tell me: Do you find in what He has sent down to you that you should believe in Muhammad?

Robert Spencer in his book The Truth About Muhammad wrote:

Some of the Jews answered Muhammad’s challenge the only way they could.  One explained that Muhammad “has not brought us anything we recognize and he is not the one we spoke of to you” that is, he is not the Messiah of whom the Jews had spoken to the Arabs before Muhammad began his prophetic career…  Muhammad in response received a revelation: “And when there cometh unto them a scripture from Allah, confirming that in their possession-  though before that they were asking for a signal triumph over those who disbelieved- and when there cometh unto them that which they know (to be the truth) they disbelieve therein.  The curse of Allah is on disbelievers” (Quran 2:89)

       Muhammad’s response to the Jewish rejection of his prophethood was rage and hate.  Once Muhammad realized that he could not convert the Jews he received a revelation from Allah instructing Muslims to face Mecca instead of Jerusalem for prayers.  He had to explain to his followers why Allah told them to face Jerusalem originally.  Certainly Allah doesn’t change his mind.  So Muhammad told them that facing Jerusalem was only a test. 

    In order to explain why the Jews had no prediction in their scriptures for his coming Muhammad argued that the Jews had deliberately distorted their faith by removing all reference from the scriptures to his coming. 

        To some extent Jews do distort Judaism by not following the more draconian commands in the Bible such as the command to stone adulterers. When a Jewish couple was accused of adultery Mohammad used that as an opportunity to prove the Jews had distorted their religion.  He asked a Jew how they punished adulterers who answered  “We announce their crime and lash them.”  Mohammad exclaimed “Woe to you Jews! What has induced you to abandon the judgment of God?”  and ordered the couple stoned to death.  A Muslim remembered

 ”I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones.” (Bukhari vol. 4, book 61, no. 3635)

  Stoning to death of couples accused of adultery happens today in Islamic countries such as Iran. 

Islamic law severely punishes women for adultery.  An interesting question is why was Muhammad so against adultery?  After all he had many wives.  Isn’t having many wives the same as cheating on all of them?  Perhaps he was against his wives having other men.

    Some Quraysh skeptics mocked Muhammad’s claims of being a prophet.  Some asked him to turn the mountains around Mecca into gold for them or to clear them away altogether so their farming would be easier. 

    Muhammad used threats of eternal torment for those who disbelieve and promises of rewards to those who do, to persuade gullible people to believe in him.  He threatened:

Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. (Koran 22:19-22:23)   

 Muslim imams still threaten in order to persuade people.  In 1993, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdel-Aziz ibn Baaz, issued a edict, or fatwah, declaring that the world is flat and that anyone of the round persuasion does not believe in God and should be punished.”  He also said that the sun moves around the earth.  If someone does not believe in God they are doomed to eternal torment according to Muhammad so one can see how Baaz’s Fatwa would scare many Muslims into believing it.  Those Muslims in Saudi Arabia that did not believe it would be afraid of being punished if they said so.

   In Muhammad’s time there were people who were too smart to be taken in by his threats.  One of the Quraysh who used to mock Muhammad’s threats of painful torment was Amr ibn Hisham also called Abu -l Hakam by his tribesmen which means father of wisdom.   He mocked Muhammad by saying: “O Allah! If this (Quran) is indeed the Truth from You, then rain down on us a shower of stones from the sky or bring on us a painful torment.”  Muslims called him Abu Jahl which means father of folly.  Amr and his companions laughed as one of them, Uqba bin Abu Mu’ayt dumped the abdominal contents of a camel on a prostrate Muhammad when Muhammad was praying in front of the Kaaba. 

    Another Quraysh who mocked Muhammad was al-Nadr who, after Muhammad told stories of divine retribution that had befallen impious nations would tell his listeners the stories of the Persian heroes Rustam and Isfendiar  and then ask the audience “Are the stories of Muhammad more beautiful than mine?  He is spouting ancient legends that he has gathered from the mouths of men more learned than he.” 

    In order to keep the skeptics from casting doubt in the minds of the believers Muhammad had to keep believers from communicating with their non-believing friends and to convince his followers that non-believers were evil.   (These are techniques commonly used by modern day cults). Muhammad commanded them: 

Stay away from non-Muslims. They are all liars. [Koran 9:107]

And

Ignore disbelievers and their poisonous talk. [Koran 33:48]

And

O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. [Koran, al-Ma'idah 5:51.11]

    As time went on Muhammad won over enough followers so that he was no longer funny to the Meccans.  He became a dangerous unbeliever who was convincing members of the tribe not to believe in their faith and who was turning them against the tribe.  He convinced his followers that:

you shall always discover treachery in them (the non-believers) (Koran 5:13):

And Koran (4:76)

disbelievers fight for the devil. So fight the minions of the devil.

And Koran (7:177)

Those who deny Muhammad’s revelation are evil.

And Koran (8:55)

The worst beasts in Allah’s sight are the disbelievers.

And Koran(8:59 8:60)

They are your enemy and the enemy of Allah.

     Muhammad and his followers fled Mecca to Yathrib which is now known as Medina.  From their he launched raids to loot Quraysh caravans. His first 3 attempts which he led in 623 were unsuccessful.  Muhammad’s first raid was unsuccessful because he expected to find the Quraysh in a site known as Al-Abwa but didn’t.  It is surprising that a holy prophet of God did not know whether or not the Quraysh would be at a certain location, one would expect that Allah would have told him.  Muhammad was asked whether it was permissible to attack unbelievers if doing so would endanger their women and children and Muhammad replied that it was permissible becasue “They (i.e. women and children) are from them (the non-believers) (Bukhari vol 4, book 56 no. 3012.

    Muhammad’s fourth attempt in 624 during the holy and very hot month of Natiq (now called Ramadan) was successful.  The holy month of Ramadan was a time of non-violence which may be why the caravan he raided was not prepared to defend itself.  The tradition of non-violence during Ramadan did not present a problem to Muhammad who conveniently received a revelation allowing warfare against the non-believer during Ramadan:

“Warring therein is grievous; but to obstruct the way of God and to deny Him, to hinder men from the holy temple, and to expel his people thence, that is more grievous than slaughter.” (Koran 2:217)

    The successful attack on a caravan bought much loot back to Medina as well as eighty ounces of silver for two of the prisoners.  Most religions do not engage in violence on their holidays but to this day Muslims engage in violence during Ramadan.  The Highest Holy day of the Jews, Yom Kippur, occurs during the month of Ramadan, which is a day during which Jews are not prepared to fight, which is why, in October 6, 1973, the Muslims states surrounding Israel attacked. 

    The loot which the Muslims brought back with them from the caravan they attacked undoubtedly drew more followers to Muhammad.  Two months later Muhammad had over 300 men  who he led against a large Meccan caravan which was making its way home from Syria. 

He also told them that it brings joy to Allah when a Muslim

plunges into the midst of the enemy without mail.” (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 445)

This caravan was protected by men led by Amr ibn Hisham who decided to not follow the caravan to safety but to turn back and eliminate the Muslim threat once and for all.  The battle which took place near Badr on March 15, 624 turned into an unexpected victory for Muhammad.   According to Ibn Ishaq (Hisham 451)

Mu’awwidh passed Abu Jahl as he lay there helpless and smote him until he left him at his last gasp. Another Muslim named Abdullah then came by and put his foot on Amr ibn Hisham’s neck and taunted him before decapitating him:

Then I cut off his head and brought it to the apostle saying, “This is the head of the enemy of Allah, Abu Jahl.”… I threw his head before the apostle and he gave thanks to Allah. (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 451).

The Muslims captured Uqba bin Abu Mu’ayt who pled for his life:

“When the apostle ordered him to be killed, Uqba said, “But who will look after my children, O Muhammad?” [Muhammad’s reply] “Hell.” The man was put to death. (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 458

    Another asked “Who will look after my little girl.  “Hell-fire,” Muhammad replied and as the victim was slain, he added, “I give thanks unto the Lord that hath slain thee and comforted mine eyes thereby!  Muir p117

    Al-Nadr was another unfortunate captive who when he realized he was going to be killed complained that if the Quraysh had taken the Muslims prisoner they wouldn’t have killed them.  “Even were it so,” Muhammad scornfully replied, “I am not as thou and Islam hath rent all bounds asunder.”  Al-Nadr was beheaded. 

    Non-believers became terrified of Muhammad and his followers.  In fact Muhammad said:

“I have been made victorious with terror… ” (Bukhari 4.52.220)

   Those captives that were not killed after the battle of Badr were released for ransom.  Ransoming women created a quandary for Muslims who wanted to rape them and were afraid that they might not get money for them if they were pregnant.  They asked Muhammad what to do and he told them that they should not worry about getting the women pregnant

“for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist.” (Bukhari, Volume 5, Book59, Number 459)

Muhammad told his followers that “the booty has been made Halal (lawful) to me (and not to anyone else). He then distributed 4/5 of the booty to his followers telling his followers:

[Koran 8.41] And know that whatever thing you gain, a fifth of it is for Allah and for the Apostle and for the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer…”

    It must have occurred to Muhammad that it might occur to his followers that they could go on raids without him in the future and not give him a cut. In order to prevent this he convinced them that without him they would lose. Muhammad told his followers that armies of angels had joined with them to smite the Quraysh and that similar help would come only if they remained faithful to Allah. He even told them:

[Koran 8:17] It is not ye who slew them; it was Allah.

    With Allah Muhammad told his followers they would be victorious against overwhelming odds.  He said:

[Koran 8:65] “If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred; if a hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the unbelievers…

    After the victory at Badr Muhammad proceeded to settle scores with his detractors in Medina.  He had an elderly poet, Abu Afak murdered who had protested Muslim murders and who mocked Muhammad for his desire to control people’s lives.     Upon learning of Afak’s murder, Asma bint Marwan a poetess wrote verses denigrating the men of Medina for “obeying a stranger who is none of yours”.  When Muhammad heard this he had her murdered as she was nursing her youngest child.  Muhammad told his followers:

Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush. (Koran 9:5)

       Muhammad then turned to murdering Jews. 

    In the mean time Abu Sufyan who became leader of the Meccans after Muhammad killed off most of their leadership at Badr, assembled 3000 troops to fight Muhammad.  Their forces met at a mountain near Mecca called Uhud.  Although Muhammad had told his followers that it brings joy to Allah if Muslims plunge into battle without mail Muhammad put on two coats of mail before the battle of Uhud.  He stayed at the rear of his army and surrounded himself with bodyguards.  The Muslims were defeated and Muhammad was hit in the face by a thrown rock.  Muhammad tried to flee by climbing a rock but:

He had become heavy by reason of his age, and moreover he had put on two coats of mail so when he tried to get up he could not so.  Talha squatted beneath him and lifted him up until he settled comfortably up on it.” (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 577)

    The defeat probably created a very dangerous situation for Muhammad.  It must have occurred to his followers that the promises of victory he had made had not materialized which cast doubt on his claims of being a prophet and some of his followers may have felt it was his fault for getting them into a battle where so many were killed.  Muhammad had to come up with excuses especially since he had told his followers after the battle of Badr that Allah would grant them victory against all odds.  One excuse he made was that the debacle was necessary to “test” the believers so that “Allah may know those who believe” (3:140).  Muhammad’s next excuse was to blame a contingent of “hypocrites” who failed to accompany them into battle (3:167). But this had also been the case at Badr, where the Muslims had been victorious due to Allah’s angels (seen only by Muhammad, of course). Why no angels this time?  Finally, Muhammad simply blamed the sin of the people for their own defeat and told them to beg for his forgiveness. They had pushed him into a battle that he did not want, and then fought poorly, even “abandoning the messenger” (3:153) whose presence Allah had been so generous in blessing them with (3:164). Clearly the people had let Muhammad down, but he and Allah promised to be magnanimous if the people acknowledged their error (3:152).   For good measure, Muhammad also added that the Devil made them do it (3:155).

    One problem with all these excuses is that they did not explain how Muhammad had gotten hit on the head.  Surely he hadn’t sinned against Allah so why didn’t Allah protect him?

   Muhammad was defeated but still had a strong army which he turned against the Jews.  Muhammad issued the command to Muslims that they

Kill any Jew that falls into your power. [Ibn Ishaq p369 in Guillame 554]

The Muslims had a truce with the Jewish Banu Qaynuqa tribe but that was not a problem for Muhammad.  He had another convenient revelation from Allah.  

[Koran 8:58] If though fearest treachery from any group, throw back (their covenant) to them…

Notice how deviously clever this revelation is.  It is a revelation that justifies treachery against the Jews by accusing the Jews of treachery.  His forces defeated the Qaynuqa and spared them on the condition that they turn over all their property and leave Medina.  Many of the Jews left for Syria and perished there.  There was another Jewish tribe left in Medina called the Bani-an Nadir.  Ka’b Ibn Ashraf, the chief of the Bani Nadir worried that the same would happen to his tribe and asked the Meccans for help in case Muhammad would attack his tribe.  Muhammad had Ka’b Ibn Ashraf assassinated. 

Ali Sina  wrote.:

Bani Nadir had the best-cultivated land in Yathrib. Muhammad had his eyes on their plantations and farms.  Bukhari Volume 9, Book 92, Number 447 …  So he had to come up with an excuse….  He needed a pretext to act upon his plan and confiscate the properties of these wealthy Jews. There again, the prophet of Allah had a new “inspiration”. It was a brilliant idea. He told his companions that the Jews had plotted to kill him. His followers believed him when he told them of his Miiraj in the company of Gabriele (that the angel Gabriel told him that the Jews planned to kill him). They had no difficulty believing whatever to believe in any absurdity that he concocted…

Muhammad had them banished as well.  Some fled to Syria and others to Khaibar. 

An insanely courageous Jew probably challenged Muhammad’s propensity for violence by quoting the Mishna in which teaches that:

    I wonder what Dr. Asma Modin-Uddin would say if she realized that the Koranic verse inspiring her to professional excellence came from the Jewish Mishna!

    The Muslims resumed attacking Quraysh caravans and were strangling Meccan trade.  The Quraysh decided to finish off the Muslims once and for all.  According to Ibn Ishaq some of the Bani Qurayza jews encouraged the Quraysh to attack but the Quraysh had plenty of reason to attack Muhammad without Jewish encouragement.  One of the Jews Ibn Ishaq says was involved Sallam b. Abu’l-Huqayq al-Nadir had already been assassinated so this accusation may be false and simply  an attempt to justify what Muhammad did the the Bani Qurayza after the Quraysh attack.  The Quraysh along with the Ghatafan (northern Arab tribes to the east of Medina and Mecca) laid siege to Medina.  Muhammad had his men dig trenches around Medina to prevent a cavalry charge.  There wasn’t enough food for the animals of the Quraysh to support a long siege so they withdrew. 

    When the siege was over Muhammad received a convenient revelation. 

He accused the Jewish tribe of the Bani Quraytha of wanting to betray him and the angel Gabriel ordered him to attack them.  He went to them, put them under siege for 14 days. Finally they surrendered. So Mohammed killed all their men, enslaved their women and children [Saheeh Muslim - 1769].

 According to Ibn Ishaq, “The apostle went out to the market of Medina and dug trenches in it.  Then he sent for the men of Qurayzah and struck off their heads as they were brought out to him in batches until 600 to 700 of them were dead. 

The Jewish women and children were enslaved and Muhammad took one of them, a fifteen year old girl named Rayhana bint Zayd ibn Amr as a personal slave.

 

    Slavery of men and women takes place today in Islamic countries such as Sudan and Mauritania. 

Whenever Muhammad wanted a wife he took her even if she was married or was too young. 

When Muhammad was 51 years old, he chose to marry a 6 year old child, a marriage he consummated when she was 9 years old (Sahih Bukhari 5.236),  he explained that God wanted him to do so:

“…the Prophet said to her (Aisha), ‘You have been shown to me twice in my dream. I saw you pictured on a piece of silk and someone said (to me). ‘This is your wife.’ When I uncovered the picture, I saw that it was yours. I said, ‘If this is from Allah, it will be done.’”
(Hadith, Sahih Bukhari 5:58:235)

   Child marriages are common in many Islamic countries.  Ali Sina wrote:

Just a few weeks ago I read in the news that in Iran a 9-year-old girl filed for divorce from her 15-year-old husband just after 20 days of marriage because he would constantly beat her. When the young man was questioned he said: “She neglects her housework and plays with her dolls all the time”.

  One of Muhammad’s many sons,  Zayad  married a beautiful wife by the name of Zainab and Muhammad wanted her.  According to the Muslim historian Abu Ja’far Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari (839-923), one day Muhammad was talking with Aisha when “a fainting overcame him.”  Then he smiled and asked, “Who will go to Zaynab to tell her the good news, saying that God has married her to me?”  He then recited the revelation Allah had just given him, scolding him for being concerned about what people might think and thus refusing to marry Zaynab. (Qur’an 33:37)

  Muhammad even had revelations telling his followers to be quiet.  Muhammad told some noisy followers that Allah said (Koran 49.2) 

Believers, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor shout aloud when speaking to him as you do to one another…Those who speak softly in the presence of God’s apostle are the men whose hearts God has tested for piety. 

   A devout Muslim named Shaikh (see the book Leaving Islam) was reading this passage when a question entered his mind.  Why is it really for Allah to tell people to show reverence to Muhammad?  Can’t Muhammad tell the people these things himself?  God was acting as a servant to Muhammad.  This was the beginning of Shaikh’s realization that his dear and beloved Islam was a lie.  Shaikh points out another example.  He writes:

If you read sura XXXIII.56 you will see it says, “Verily, God and His Angels pray for the prophet.”  In every other religion, it is man who worships God, but here God appears to be worshipping man

   Putting words in God’s mouth in order to justify one’s behavior is a practice that continued after Muhammad’s death.  Robert Spencer in his book The Truth About Muhammad wrote:

Muslims themselves acknowledge that there are a great many forged ahadith (the plural form of hadith), which were written to give the Prophet’s sanction to the views or practices of a particular party in the early Muslim community.

        Muhammad incited his followers against the Jewish Banu Nadir tribe by accusing them of conspiring to kill him.  He demanded that the entire tribe to leave their homes.  When they refused Muhammad told the Muslims that “The Jews have declared war”. (Tabari volume 7 159) and ordered them to lay siege to the Jews.  After two weeks of siege the Banu Nadir surrendered and agreed to go into exile.

    Inciting hatred against those Muslims want to pillage and destroy did not end with Muhammad. 

Ahmadinejad phrased this at a conference in Tehran in 2005 as follows:

We have to understand the depth of the disgrace of the enemy, until our holy hatred expands continuously and strikes like a wave.

An Arab propagandist, Mahi Adwan who broadcast slanders of Israel explained that:

With my task here, I feel I complete the work of those who throw the stones.”

 Likewise in his book  “Heaven on Earth” (Oxford University Press, 2011), author Richard Landes quotes an Islamic intellectual who explains why it’s important to keep the hatred toward Israel alive.

“The role of the Islamic stream is to keep the flame of hatred toward Zionism burning in their souls. This is because we are not ready to fight and use our military power, due to the limitations forced on us. We are not capable of conducting daily confrontations with Israel in the battlefield, because it is not in our hand, but rather in the hands of others (meaning, the Palestinian Authority). Nevertheless, we are capable of cultivating the flame of hatred to this enemy in the souls of our sons, daughters, and grandchildren. We can make hatred burn among the public. If we manage to do so, in our homes and with the help of our schools and media, our efforts will be successful. The fighting will come one of these days and if by that time the ideology of hatred has faded, we will be defeated; on the other hand, if on this day we will still hate [Israel], victory will be ours, with the help of Allah.”(Salim Al-‘Awa, Islamic intellectual close to Sheikh Qaradawi, published in Al-Istiqlal, August 28, 1998, trans. MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series, no. 5, August 31, 1998)

Here is a video of Islamic propaganda against Jews.

 Muhammad took the property the Jews left behind  and distributed some of it as booty to his followers.  Some of it he used for purchasing horse and weapons.  Again Muhammad convinced his followers that it was because of Allah that they won.  In a revelation Allah told Muhammad that Allah had cast terror in the hearts of the Jews. (Qur’an 59:2-3)

    Muhammad than led the Muslims out to attack the Banu al Mustaliq an Arab tribe related to the Quraysh and took their wives children and property as booty. (Bukhari, vol. 4, book 57 no. 3128  The Muslim warriors desired to rape the women they captured but also wanted ransom for them but Muhammad said that was not a problem “for every soul that is to be born up to the day of Resurrection will be born.” Ibn Ishaq 490

    Muhammad then led his followers in a surprise attack against the Khaybar oasis which was inhabited by Jews, many of them who he had exiled from Medina.  After conquering Khaybar Muhammad wanted to know where the wealth of Khaybar was hidden.  Kinana bin al-Rabi a Jewish leader of Khaybar denied knowing where the treasure was so Muhammad told one of his followers, al-Zubayr Al-Awwam: “Torture him until you extract what he has”.  Al-Zubayr  kindled a fire with flint and steel on his chest and let it burn until he was nearly dead but Kinana would not reward the Muslim barbarians with his secret and when he was at the point of death another Muslim beheaded him.  (Ibn Ishaq 511).

Why was treasure so important for a prophet of God that he would order someone be tortured for it?  Why didn’t Muhammad simply ask Allah to tell him where the treasure was so that he could skip the torture?

    Muhammad expelled the people of Khaybar as long as they left their gold and silver behind.  He allowed some of the farmers to stay behind as long as they gave him half their annual yield but after Muslims discovered some treasure that some of the Khaybar Jews had hidden ordered the women and children of the tribe enslaved. (Ibn Ishaq 515).  One of the captured Khaybar women Safiyya was 17 year old girl of “incomparable beauty” (Ibn Saad, al-Tabaqat, pp. 120-123).  She was the wife of Kinana bin al-Rabi the man the Muslims tortured and beheaded.  Muhammad had also beheaded her father himself two years previously along with the Jewish men of Qurayza.  Muhammad forced Safiyya to be one of his wives and raped her.

    A popular modern chant of the Palestinians is “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.”  Here is an example from the flotilla

 

    Here is CAIR in Cleveland singing the song of Khaybar

 

 

Khaybar chant in New York City

 

    One of the Jewish women of Khaybar, Zaynab bint al-Harith was brought in to prepare dinner for Muhammad,  She prepared a roast lamb and is alleged to have poisoned it.  Certainly she had every reason to kill Muhammad.  On the other hand the allegation could have been a false one to motivate Muslims to fight Jews. 

    One can see how this story would cause problems for Muslims.  On the one hand it made the Jews the evil killers of Muhammad justifying further murder, pillage and rape of Jewish women.  On the other hand Muhammad was supposed to be a prophet.  He should have known that there was poison in the food.  The way they solved this conundrum was to say that after taking one bite Muhammad spit it out saying “this bone tells me that it is poisoned”.  That way Muhammad still showed amazing prophetic powers in which bones spoke to him yet he could still be poisoned by those nasty non-believing Jews.  In spite of this it is still puzzling that Allah would allow his prophet to be poisoned by the infidel let alone the Jewish infidel.

     Muhammad commanded his followers to:

Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. (Koran 9:29)

   The Jizya tax from the subjugated infidel became the Muslims chief source of income.  It dawned on Muhammad that killing the infidel meant less money not more.  He realized that a live infidel who payed tribute was better than a dead infidel.   So he commanded

Whoever will kill a tributary will not smell the fragrance of paradise.

  In fact it wasn’t so good if too many of the conquered victims of Muhammad became Muslims because then they couldn’t be slaves (unless a ruling was made  that slaves who converted to Islam were still slaves which did happen).  Another approach was not to convert the slaves to begin with. Muhammad commanded

Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error (Koran 2:256)

and

If it had been thy Lord’s Will, they would all have believed, all who are on earth! Wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe?  (Koran 10:99)

   Although a believer was not to be killed once he was a tributary before he was one was a completely different story.  Muhammad’s followers grew in number and strength partly because it had become dangerous not to be a believing Muslim.  Muslims knew that they could becoming victims of commands such as

They should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides. (Koran 5:33)

 if they left the faith.   In fact Muhammad explicitly commanded

Smiting above necks by Muslims in modern times can be seen here.  Robert Spencer in his book The Truth About Muhammad wrote that when Nicholas Berg was beheaded Iraqi Jihad leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said:

Is it not time for you [Muslims] to take the path of jihad and carry the sword of the Prophet of prophets?.. The Prophet, the most merciful, ordered [his army] to strike the necks of some prisoners in [the battle of] Badr and to kill them… And he set a good example for us.

    Some of those who converted to Islam did not wish to go to battle.  Muhammad said to them:

So ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter?  But little is the comfort of this life as compared with the Hereafter.  Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty , and put others in your place … (Qur’an 9:38-39). 

    Muhammad also reassured his men that dying for him wouldn’t hurt.  He said in regard to the martyr:

He will not feel the agony of death.
He does not feel the pain of the killing except like that of a pinch.
All the Shaheed’s sins and faults are forgiven with the first drop of blood that comes out of his body.
 The soul of the martyrs dwell in Paradise whenever they like.
·  Allah will marry him to Hur-al-een.
(from Hadith Tirmidhî  and Ahmad):

Sheikh Abd Al-Salam Abu Shukheydem, Chief Mufti of the Palestinian Authority police force used this approach to motivate his Muslims brothers in September 1999.  (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Palestinian Authority), September 17, 1999.), He said in regard to the martyr:

“From the moment the first drop of his blood is spilled, he does not feel the pain of his wounds and he is forgiven for all his sins; he sees his seat in Paradise; he is saved from the torment of the grave; he is saved from the great horror of Judgment Day; he marries ‘the black-eyed’; he vouches for 70 of his family members; he gains the crown of honor, the precious stone of which is better than this entire world and everything in it.” In a Friday sermon broadcast on Palestinian television, Sheikh Ismail Al-Radwan declared: “He is given 72 ‘black-eyed.’”

    Isn’t the chief Mufti of the police force supposed to try and discourage suicide bombings?

  Muhammad received a convenient revelation that those who refused to wage Jihad even to the point of risking their property and their very lives were not believers. (Qu’ran 9:41-45). That meant that they would would become targets of their fellow Muslims if they did not fight for him. 

If they did fight on the other hand they would get booty and slave girls.  Muhammad told them:

33:50 – “Prophet, We have made lawful to you … the slave girls whom God has given you as booty.”

     Muhammad motivated his followers by telling them that:

The person who participates in (Holy battles) in Allah’s cause … will be recompensed by Allah either with a reward, or booty (if he survives) or will be admitted to Paradise (if he is killed in the battle as a martyr). (Hadith Sahih Bukhari, Vol 1 Book 2 Number 35)

    Muhammad used the carrot and stick reward and punishment approach for motivating his followers.  Muhammad told his followers that if they fought they would enter paradise.  He said:

“Therein are bashful virgins whom neither man nor jinnee will have touched before … virgins as fair as corals and rubies,” Koran 55 46-76.

and that in paradise there are

 ”virgins chaste and fair … they shall recline on green cushions and fine carpets.”

  If you were a follower of Muhammad who traveled through the desert on camels or on foot, green cushions and fine carpets might have been even more appealing than the virgins. 

Here is a clip of an imam in modern times convincing a Muslim he will go to paradise if he commits a suicide bombing.

 

Here is a clip of an Islamic martyr who didn’t waste time trying to find a spouse because he believed that if he dedicated every moment to Jihad he would get 70 virgins in paradise.

    

Iranian officers captured by the Iraqis claimed that nine out of ten Iranian child soldiers were killed.  Boys as young as nine were reportedly used in human wave attacks and to serve as mine sweepers in the war with Iraq.

     Heinrich Himmler admired Islam for promising rewards to soldiers.  On December 1, 1942, Himmler told Kersten his masseuse:

 

“Mohammed knew that most people are terribly cowardly and stupid. That is why he promised two beautiful women to every courageous warrior who dies in battle. This is the kind of language a soldier understands. When he believes that he will be welcomed in this manner in the afterlife, he will be willing to give his life, he will be enthusiastic about going to battle and not fear death. You may call this primitive and you may laugh about it, but it is based on deeper wisdom. A religion must speak a man’s language.”

Muhammad marched on Mecca with an army of ten thousand Muslims.  The inhabitants of Mecca all converted to Islam in order to be spared. 

    There was one last obstacle left between Muhammad and mastery of all of Arabia.  Malik ibn ‘Awf, a member of the Thaqif tribe of the city of Ta’if, south of Mecca began to assemble a force to fight the Muslims.  Muhammad met him with an army of 12,000 men at the Wadi of Hunayn.  The Muslims prevailed.  Muhammad in order to make sure his men kept believing they needed him had a revelation that Allah

“sent down hosts ye could not see, and punished those who disbelieved.” (Koran 9:26)

    In 631 Muhammad ordered the Muslims to begin preparation for a raid on Tabuk, then part of the Byzantine Empire.  When the Muslim troops arrived there they found that the Byzantine troops had withdrawn without a fight.  Muhammad forced area leaders to agree to pay the Jizya tax. 

   Life was good for Muhammad.  He had conquered the unbeliever, had beautiful women, wealth beyond measure and was treated like a holy prophet.  It worried him though that someone else might do the same thing.  What if someone else claimed to be a prophet too and convinced people that they would go to hell if they don’t fight Muhammad.  So Muhammad told his followers that he was the last prophet.  He said:

In My Ummah (Islamic Nation), there shall be born Thirty Grand Liars (Dajjals), each of whom will claim to be a prophet, But I am the Last Prophet; there is No Prophet after Me.  (Abu Dawood Vol 2 p. 228; Tirmidhi Vol 2 p.45)” [1]

   In May 23, 1844 long after Muhammad was dead, a Persian, Siyyid ‘Ali-Muhammad did exactly what Muhammad feared would happen while he was alive and said:

I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained all that is good and seemly; and whosoever hath failed to recognize Me, hath turned away from all that is true and right and hath succumbed to everything evil and unseemly…all those who cherish My love and follow My behest abiding within the mansions of Paradise, and the entire company of Mine adversaries consigned to the lowest depths of hell-fire.

   Since Muhammad had said that he was the last prophet, Siyyid was considered a heretic by Moslems and killed and his followers the Bahai persecuted.  The Bahai still exist and one of the places where they found shelter from Islamic persecution is Israel among the Jews Muhammad hated so much.

Bahai Temple in Israel

 

    On his deathbed Muhammad had no use for booty any more but he still wanted revenge against those who did not believe in him  His final orders were that all Jews and Christians be expelled from Arabia.  Today the once thriving Jewish communities in the Hejaz are gone and Jews are not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.  In most Muslim countries where Jews are allowed they live in fear of their lives.

A century after the death of Muhammad, an Islamic empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Central Asia in the east.  Eventually Muslims conquered much of Africa, Europe and India.  The following map is from the Silk road foundation web site.

 

According to Wikipedia the estimates for the size of the Muslim caliphate suggest it was over 5 million square miles. 

    Today Islam is on the March and establishing Islamic no go areas in Europe and even in the United States. 

 

 

The Islamic population is overtaking the Christian population of Europe. 

 

Posted by FFI Editor on Oct 11 2011. Filed under Jihad, Op-Ed. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.